Mike Graves in front of his piece “Two Businessman” in the Harrison Center Speck Gallery.

I imagine a teenage Mike Graves, wandering through an Indianapolis Public Library Foundation sale, and discovering the handful of Bollywood cassette tapes he would listen to religiously for a year and a half. “Thanks to my parents and my grandparents, I am always searching for something that I haven’t heard before,” says Graves. His family has deep roots in the now defunct INDY Renaissance, nationally recognized as the largest and longest-running black arts organization in Indiana.

His career as DJ Dicky Foxxx cannot be separated from his journey as a visual artist. Music making and painting are a direct product of his upbringing. “I grew up on classical, funk, disco, jazz, all that. I listened for where all the samples I use come from.” He continues, “Art and music have always been my life. I deejay, played in bands, write lyrics, emceed, and people ask me how I balance the two. It balances itself. There is no one without the other.”

Visual art and music coming together was Graves simply learning a process. For him, the work of being an artist is the search for a new practice, just like searching for sounds in his favorite music since he was a kid.

Angel, acrylic and collage on canvas, 26” x 26” x 1.25”

“When I came across collage and deco methods, it didn’t take me long before I started using sheet music in my artwork,” he reminisces. The soundtrack has always been the foreground and backdrop.

He says with an air of wonder, “It's cool to have stuff in the room that's from 2009 to 2021.” Music in the Background is a timely retrospective, chronicling the last decade of his art making. Graves’ show is available to view at the Harrison Center’s Speck Gallery throughout the month of June. For more details on how to view or purchase from the collection, visit https://www.harrisoncenter.org/buy-art.